Gosforth Park, Killingworth Lake & Fish Quay

Last Fiday  I started out at Gosforth Park NHSN site , the walk to the pond had lots  of Chaffinch on the wood edge and I was hoping for Brambling, a Sparrowhawk bathing in the stream which probably had Woodcock and Snipe along it's muddy edges as the pond was frozen to about 97% , several Moorhen lifted from the reeds a couple of minutes later a Fox came out along the left cutting , but ten minutes later came over the pond , so no wonder I did not see any Bitterns.

Called at Killingworth Lake all the birds at the west end where the Swans are keeping it open , hoping to get some close-ups of Goldeneye etc: but they all still kept their distance.

I next went down to the Fish Quay  2 Icelands up on the shed roof not very active so I thought I would head to the boating lake which also had some open water but no Iceland here , Tufted & Pochard with a few mallard, back down to the quay walked the very small beach only 4 Sanderling one of which colour ringed , by now the sub-adult was flying around  but no boats in and the light fading so I called it a day.

 In this cold spell there must be the odd carcase to scavenge in the reeds ?

 half a glance at the birds in the pool before it went back into the reeds.

 The Male Pochard is a rather smart bird in good light

 Black - headed Gulls coming to bread  at the boating lake

Colour ringed Sanderling on the beach

Juvenile centre and sub adult top  sitting on the fish quay roof

Caught this Iceland just as it was going over the shed roof , it's cleaner this side without the smudge behind the eye !!!

March 3rd ...........on your bike

I decided to cycle to St Mary's island via the tracks very uneventful as it happens ,the only few birds I saw was a few Sanderling and a Grey Plover at Collywell Bay , a Kestrel near the butts and a couple of Fulmars sitting on the sea ,when I got to the wetland still about 40 Teal present , looks like I miss timed the tide as it was already fairly high a flock of Knot 160 in total near the causeway , the tide coming in seems hardly moving at times but today it was pushing in fast ,I had to keep moving so as not to get swamped, but as usual as the causeway covered someone came around from the lighthouse paused in horror as he saw the water his only option to wade through ,with the inevitable onlookers .

Wild Weekend (but only the weather)

Saturday was a wild day to say the least,it was intention to go to Linton Pond to check out the gulls if around, I called in at QE11 lake but no Meds for me plenty of Black Headed & a few Common, the message of the Glossy Ibis near the Budge screen and showing well ,so I thought it would be in the small pool to the left, a good opportunity to get some decent photos, I was there in five minutes but the bird was way over to the right and had been there all morning , it showed briefly but you needed a scope to get a view till it went behind some vegetation, so I headed off to Linton instead.
Going through the small woodland it was like another world being sheltered, opened the shutters to find the pond covered with Geese a couple of hundred Pinkfeet soon lifted and dropped into the field out of sight before I could get a count , 536 Canadas present these must surely be increasing rapidly, perhaps the NWT could take some Christmas orders, about 100 Greylag but a lot just out of sight in the corner & good numbers of duck also here.
I have bought the Gulls book and having read at least the introduction fully I stated to sort out the gulls and successfully ID'd and aged all the gulls there ,but as there was only 3 it was not much of a problem.
Sunday a lazy morning till we decided to go up to Amble again to check out the gulls in the harbour ,no Meds for me here either, and the larger gulls over the far side ,they still have not started to repair the quay so you cant get fully along.
A drive around to the braid to have a scan with the scope on the rising tide , hundreds of waders across the far side mostly Redshanks with a few Bar tailed, Knot and 3 Grey Plover , large gull roost with the majority birds being adult Great Black backs , loads of Wigeon feeding on the edges.
Called in at Hauxley just for a walk around , but the west hide has been removed , to be replaced according to the notice (end October) to me it was along with the Ponteland hide the only ones worth visiting , the large hide is useless in the afternoon as you look into the sun, so it was a walk to the beach and back to end the day.
Monday just a ride on the bike to St Mary's via Blyth harbour there are gates and fences up everywhere, although at the moment open, there could be no access to any of the jetties.
St Mary's quiet the adult med still at the Briardene carpark odd how it has returned to the same spot (presuming it is the same bird) an adult used to hang around the Blyth beach area but no sign of late. Looking through the Sanderling(links) I picked out three colour ringed birds ,had some last year in the north bay ,actually my last three visits to the north bay I have had no waders. Sent off the details and awaiting a reply, also noted still some Turnstones with colour rings ,sent numerous records in a few years ago and still waiting a reply, I think it should be a condition of use of colour rings that birds be at least monitored or good notice given that the study has ended.

Two colour ringed birds ,second left and first right

Another bird 2nd left and one centre

This bird looks like a differant study, not sure if thats a double or large red ring

Cresswell Butterflies 25-8-09

Tuesday was a much warmer day and a lot more Butterflies around one small area I stopped at on the way Cresswell had 25 Painted Ladies, 8 Peacock, 10 Wall Brown & a few Tortoiseshell, but no Hawkers which was what I was hoping for, ST's blog had many more Butterflies on this day.
Cresswell still had the Semi-P now settled on the pond with a fantastic showing of waders including 30 Black tailed Godwits, Wood Sandpiper & 3 Curlew Sandpiper, the hide getting rather busy now .

Roseates & Semipalmated Sandpiper 24-8-09

Monday the 24th saw me check out the Roseates before heading back up to Cresswell ,not sure how many Roseates here, but there was a few Juveniles ,I think Roseate Juveniles are very smart birds in the early days of fledging as are Sandwich tern, with that striking pattern.
Moved on to Cresswell the Semi-P had been reported but was not on view so I decided to walk the beach hoping to come across it , which I did it was at the pond outflow and even flew over to the side I was on but kept it's back to me , it then moved to the waters edge , I had to walk around the large long pool to refind it , from here the tide pushed the birds over to the pool , Wood Sandpiper at the North end and in the field 6 Yellow Wagtails increasing to 10 later in the afternoon also 3 Wheatear, and a Whinchat, also a steady movement of Swallows south for most of the afternoon.
The Semipalmated Sandpiper again from the hide along with a Wood Sandpiper, 30 Black-tailed Godwits,4 Bar-tailed , 2 Greenshank, 2 Ruff, 1 Green Sandpiper,1 Adult Curlew Sandpiper, 70 odd Dunlin, Redshanks & Lapwings, of which I again picked out the same colour ringed bird seen awhile ago but again just the left leg...................so if you see the other leg please let me know
Roseates on the rocks this one with a juvenile

some very low tides of late keeping the birds well out

Semi-P back on the pond, when asked where is the bird after they all flushed, I said it feeds in a small area either side of the old tyre ..........................where's the tyre was the next question !!!

I'll just have a quick nap !!!!!!!!!!

Another out of focus flight shot of the Semi-P

and with Sanderling on the beach

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS LAPWINGS RIGHT LEG.....PLEASE LET ME KNOW !!

Wader day 20-8-09

Unable to sleep last night I was up very early and at Bothal pond which held 6 Greenshank,1 Wood Sandpiper,2 Green Sandpiper,1 Spotted Redshank, and about 30+ Snipe, another day of strong winds which is not good for digiscoping, also had 3 Swift which hung around most of the morning, next stop Longhirst flash large number of duck which I admit I ignored, a F Marsh Harrier over , a quick stop at Linton but nothing of note so I headed for Cresswell and into the hide which only had a couple of people in most at the north end , level dropping and wader numbers increasing, 50+ Dunlin, 3 Black Tailed Godwits(30 on Monday) ,4 Ruff, 1 Curlew Sandpiper ,2 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper,also a few Sanderling the Semipalmated Sandpiper dropped in a couple of times, and even stayed when all other waders took flight , another 2 Swift, probably keeping ahead of the rain,eventually those from the far end came to look for the Semi-P, only to find it had taken off as they came in the door (frustrating or what !!!), after having given cracking views on the sandbank, the hide filled and it was time to go.

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER 19-08-09

Wdnesday 19th the only shot I got showing palmations as it walked on the beach

There is nothing like the report of a bird on the pager whose name is in capital letters, so I went up to Cresswell got to the north end not a sole in sight so I checked the pool and the first bird I saw looked like a good candidate, no expert by any means on waders although I do have a interest in them .

The more I looked at it the more I thought this is the bird I saw on Monday of which I tried to get some digi shots of , and these still in the camera as I have had computer problems again ,anyway there was a report of Little Stint on Monday that had been seen from the hide but this bird at the top pool thought by me and others to be it , all I can say is at the time I thought its not the smallest Little Stint Iv'e seen and rather long legged , very difficult to digiscope in the strong wind, and I did not give it much thought after that.

Here are photos of Monday & today, there must be some cracking images of this bird given the crowd of today.

Monday 17th the best digiscoped shot although the head would be behind something but you can still make out the bill.

Monday 17th

Wednesday 19th on the beach when it looked like a totally different bird

back on the pool

strong wind not helping in digiscoping

A couple of grabs in flight

A bit more green birding 20-7-09

Monday 20-7-09 thought I would check the falling tide at St Mary's Island but cycle there via the fields to check out a few ponds only one Emperor flying and that was brief, and then a couple of Common Blue, I waited an hour, even when the sun came out and the temperature had risen sharply, nothing , not even Damselflies in the grass, they must be deep in cover or I wonder if stuff has had a real hammering from the wind & rain on Friday ( I was up the Coquet Valley looking at trees ,till it was decided to call it off, camera never even came out the car never mind the bag ) so I headed down to the coast its a very long way around doing it like this , plenty of people pouring onto the rocks as the tide receded, numbers of Golden Plover increasing, 3 sp Knot, about 30 Sandwich, a few Common & a couple of Arctic , Sanderling in the north bay but very flighty, so I just got a couple of shots.

Golden Plover coming in from the Island as the crowds descend

Following comments on http://dustybins.blogspot.com/ about Starlings on seaweed, these guys caught my eye not just a couple but loads where lying on the tarmac I assume absorbing the heat, now have I seen this before and took no notice or not seen it before just cant think ,should take more notes.

taking in the sun !!!!!

Rooting around on the beach, they do actually bring in other birds , a Rook was just a few feet away, but in the light